Oregon Ducks College Football Pregame Quote, 09/23/2025

Dan Lanning: Penn State is an extremely talented team. They do do it well in all three phases. Coach Franklin runs a great organization, and they present a ton of challenges. I’ve said before, but defensively, there’s multiple and disruptive as anybody will play. They got great edge play Dani Sutton is one of the better defensive edge players in the league and then the nation. They’ve got good play in the back end as well. They do a great job overlapping, and have a lot of variety of schemes. Offensively they’re really tough to prepare for, because they’re moving almost every play. So it just presents really challenges the shifts and movements and motions that they do. And have great running backs, good quarterback and their wide receiver plays really stands out this year. They have some speed on the field, and then special teams are really sound so excited for that environment. It’s one that I haven’t been to before, but I’ve heard a lot about.

Preparing for a White Out

Question: Joe Lorig coached at Penn State. What has he said about preparing for the White Out?

Lanning: we played in good environments before they described it as it’s a good one, right? And that’s part of what makes college football fun, is it’s, it’s a real one to get to get to go play, and like, we’ve got a great atmosphere here. It’s been an asset for us. I’m sure they’re counting on it being an asset for them. But again, play the game, not the occasion.

Penn State receivers

Question: Drew Allar has adjusted to his new receivers. What stands out in film that stands out there?

Lanning: They have some guys who can stretch the field. They run good routes, and the quarterback can make, you know, can make all the throws. He’s got a big arm, you know? He they throw more inner, immediate passing game and shot game than we’ve really seen, and that’s one of the great compliments to the run game. You know, is what they’re able to build off of that run game with shots down the field. So they have the guys that can go get it. They have a guy who can go throw it.

This team to that team

Question: How do you balance understanding what this team was last year, when you guys got to go play with a big 10 champion and looking at, hey, we have a different team now. They have a different team now. And then looking at them like that?

Lanning: Just that, you know, you assess what was good and bad from last season. You recognize where they’ve changed and what they’ve adjusted, knowing that they’ve made some changes. They have different personnel in some spots. And then, you know, same with us, but it’s a combination that you assess what was good and bad from last season. You recognize where they’ve changed and what they’ve adjusted, knowing that they’ve made some changes. They have different personnel in some spots. And then, you know, same with us, but it’s a combination of both.

Jim Knowles influence

Question: brought in Jim Knowles from Ohio State, and you played them obviously twice last year. What are the differences, similarities that he brought over from Ohio State and kind of your thoughts on the defense?

Lanning: Yeah, you’re seeing a lot of scheme variation, which he had, you know, at Ohio State, but it’s a lot of the similar scheme that they carry at Ohio State. And he always has new wrinkle. Every week you see something new that you haven’t necessarily seen on film, that he’s able to pull from, that he thinks defends you Well, and that’s that’s always going to present a good challenge.

Success in later downs

Question: Coach, a couple of Penn State opponents, particularly FIU, was able to have some success defensively on them, particularly on third, fourth down. I think they forced three turnovers on downs at one point in the first half. That’s something you’re looking at. Do you see any opportunity there to be able to build on what they were able to do on those keys on those key third, fourth down plays?

Lanning: We’re certainly looking at all film we have access to, and everything we’ve been watched each one of those teams is different than us, schematically, a little bit different than us. They’ll probably attack us differently than they attack them. But looking at every bit of film that we can watch.

Tough run game

Question: What is the most challenging part about the run game between Allen and Singleton?

Lanning: I mean, just, it’s multiple. It’s not like you can say, okay, all the point of attacks are here, right? It’s, it’s in different directions. And those guys are really good at sticking their foot in the ground, again, vertical. They’re both different runners. You know, 10 (Nicholas Singleton) hits it and builds the speed, quick, 13 (Kaytron Allen), I mean, he’s playing as good as anybody right now. You know he’s he’s got great vision, he’s got good patience, and he’s able to get vertical as well. So they’ve got great O line up front boxing for him. They get hats on hats. They play a physical brand, but it’s tough because of the variety of schemes.

Strength in numbers

Question: You guys have done a lot of rotating throughout the field and mostly on defense too, but I’m sure a lot of that’s to see what you guys have, and also you have a lot of above the line players. How much do you think that’s going to restrict now the competition raises?

Lanning: I think the strength of numbers is going to be a huge asset for us as we go throughout the season. And again, you know how many people you see, what you see is going to be based on performance throughout practice and what that looks like. But if we have guys that can play winning football. We’re going to utilize them, and that’s going to pay off in the long run for us.

Taking advantage of Drew Allar’s aggressive passing

Question: Drew Allar is a guy with a big arm who can who likes to push the ball downfield and into those intermediate areas, how much you guys trying to take advantage of that aggression and have ball production in the secondary?

Lanning: Ball production is something we always emphasize, right? But you know, it’s important to be sound at the same time. You can’t take, you know, crazy risks and not put yourself in position to make plays. But yeah, when the balls in the air, we want to be all attacking. We’ve done that well so far this season.

Improving the run defense

Question: For as much as you and Tosh, emphasize run defense all off season, then how much was the title game last year? How much was that a focus, short term, long term, because it was such a statistical outlier for what you’ve ever allowed?

Lanning: Yeah, part of it became, you know, was played a little bit based on the type of game it became and what we were willing to give up and what we weren’t. But ultimately, that’s not the standard. You got to play the standard. And we played to the standard. And several games last year that was not a game that we played the standard when it came to our rushing defense. And there’s things we could have done better schematically, and then there’s things that technically we can be a lot better at as well. So it’s certainly been a focus for us. We’ve seen highlights of us playing really good defensive times run defense this season. We’ve seen times when we haven’t so we got to make sure that we put our guys in great position to have success and then do a good job against this rushing attack. You’re not going to hold these guys to zero yards rushing. They’re really good back so we have to be able to run the ball effectively on our side of the ball, and we have to be able to stop the run in this game.

Starting fast

Question: Both you and Coach Franklin put a big emphasis on starting fast. How are you preparing this week so that your team has a better chance of throwing the first punch?

Lanning: Yeah, it doesn’t change. Your preparation doesn’t change because it’s Penn State, right? That’s more of a preparation for what you do every single week. And starting fast is important for us in each game, but certainly matters in games like this, right? When the crowds involved, that’s something that you can attack early. If you start fast, that can be an asset. But there’s going to be highs and lows in this game regardless, right? There’s gonna be plays that they win. There’s gonna be plays that we win. It’s really about the next play. That’s the next most important play.

Not looking ahead

Question: You feel like your team has kind of handled the first four weeks before today, this week’s game, and the mindset that comes with not looking ahead, I feel like they didn’t.

Lanning: Yeah, I think our teams have really good focus on, what’s it? What’s the task at hand? Who’s the opponent? What do we need to get prepared for? What’s it look like in each game and in certain ways, I think we’ve leveled up every single week. And our operation, our standard, our execution, that’s got to continue. You look for growth from week one to week four. We’re a better team today than we were week one. We have to keep growing.

James Franklin

Question: know you’ve already conveyed respect for Coach Franklin. I’m curious, and having faced off and was a thrilling game last year, kind of what you’ve come to appreciate just about how he runs a program as a team.

Lanning: When you win like he’s won. I mean, he did it at Vanderbilt. He’s done it at Penn State. He’s had a lot of success. He’s had coordinator changes and still been able to have success. They’ve adapted with times they I think they’re one of the better teams in utilizing the personnel they have. You saw what, what their attack looked like last year with Tyler Warren, now what their attack looks like this year with their backs, their quarterback, you know, schematically on defense, willingness to change and adapt. You know, I think there’s been a lot of variety that he’s shown over the years and ability to win.

Tight end Luke Reynolds

Question: Penn State might not have Tyler Warren, but their other tight end, Luke Reynolds, was their top receiver in their last game. Just what have you seen from him, and how has he kind of filled those shoes in their offensive scheme?

Lanning: Yeah, that’s one of the things. You go back even to their offensive coordinators’ time at Kansas, he’s always done a really good job of utilizing tight ends, right? They’ve always had a lot of targets that pop out of the ground. Really compliments their run game the way they use them. So you know, they’re always going to be a threat, and somebody you have to be alert for.

Three transfer receivers

Question: How different are they offensively with the three transfer receivers a year ago, where, when Warren’s not there, but they still have a good tight end, but these three receivers are clearly just different.

Lanning: I think more than anything, just the speed. I think you see the speed that shows up. And they’ve made more plays on contested catches this year than they had in the past, you know? But again, they have the ability to stretch the field.

Previous big moments

Question: You’ve been in a couple of these environments in college football that feel like State College. When you’re a head coach, how do you develop and how do you learn during those games, about how you prepare your team for the next one. It’s like, in terms of, like, :Hey, I went into this game in the big house. I played at Husky Stadium, and I understand how to prepare my team to play in a place like State College.”

Lanning: Yeah, those moments, I mean, those moments prepare you for that. And whether it’s crowd noise, being involved in practice, you know, things like that, there’s a lot of different things that you can utilize, you know, in those moments, you know, taking away communication with the coach to player headset, right? And so you have to operate from a different operation point there, there’s, there’s a lot of things that you can do in practice to help that.

Challenges of facing a zone defense

Question: Coach Franklin talked about how maybe in the last matchup, when you guys had the ball, they didn’t have enough. I think he used tools of the belt of matching up man to man with you. Can you maybe just explain a lot philosophically, like, what the challenges are going zone against, what you hope to do on offense?

Lanning: I think, I mean, ultimately, what I think he’s speaking on is, you know, every game you want to say, Okay, we we got enough reps at these calls versus these plays, right? But sometimes you get a game you realize, hey, these calls aren’t working, and you want to make sure you have a good plan B. You want to have some other options. And that’s hard, right? But carrying are you carrying too much that you didn’t get enough reps of, right? Or are you not carrying enough so you don’t have enough tools to be able to utilize? So that’s always a, you know, it’s always a tough game. It’s a Catch-22 on what you want to be able to do to defend certain teams? And sometimes it simplifies you, and then sometimes you carry a lot of variety that you don’t, maybe don’t get as many practice reps at. But multiple is always tough, you know, Coach Knowles and Andy (Kotelnicki), both on on their side, are very multiple, and it makes it tough to defend, and it makes it tough, you know, to be able to attack, you know, offensively. So you want to make sure that, on the same note, we have this, we have that same variety.

Using more big bodies

Question: Last weekend, Oregon State was his lowest usage of 11 personnel this year, going a lot more big bodies. How much of that was just in terms of game plan, and that’s how you thought you were going to be able to beat Oregon State versus we didn’t run the ball well at Northwestern and we need to get heavier and put a little bigger bodies and be able to block out there?

Lanning: It was probably more match oriented, you know, like what we felt like we were going to see there were a team that played nickel versus 12, right? And, you know, if you’re gonna have smaller bodies on the field, then you know, there’s times that we won’t go match up. And you know that with bigger bodies and be able to run the ball.

Dani Dennis-Sutton

Question: Dennis-Sutton was certainly really productive last year with Carter, when he’s now the guy, what has he done differently already, these first three games, when he’s at that level like Abdul-Carter was, and has been productive so far?

Lanning: I think you see relentless effort on film, you know, from him, and he had that before, but you can see a confidence in him that he’s going to go be a guy that goes and makes the play. And you know, he’s whether it’s shots on the ball, whether it’s the way he rushes. The way he attacks the backfield, it really shows up.

Matayo Uiagalelei

Question: Matayo was playing with three other NFL guys along with the line. How do you feel? How has he kind of adjusted maybe being the focal point of, hey, you got to know where 10 is every single down?

Lanning: One thing before it’s all said and done, you’ll see some other NFL guys on our defensive line now, right? But I think Matayo’s played well. I think last game was one of his best games for us. And that doesn’t always equate to necessarily Matayo or those opportunities, but rush and rush plan working together well. With pass game plan, he’s done a good job. And Teitum and Matayo both have kind of been leaders up there, as far as setting the fronts, communicating, being our games executed properly, you know, and what we want to be able to utilize. And the guys inside have done a really good job as well, you know, more and Bear (Alexander) has really come along. Terrence (Green), you know, we’ve had a variety of guys that we have out there in the field, Blake, that have all done a really good job for us being able to operate out there.

Tionne Gray

Question: You mentioned Tionne, made the swap in the starting lineup with him and Bear, but I felt like Tionne played one of his stronger games. His pad level got a lot better against the run. What do you have you seen from him this season, and what behind making that move and what he’s been able to do?

Lanning: It doesn’t really matter who runs out for the first game. If you touch the field for us, you’re a starter, right? And we need multiple guys that can be able to play inside from us. Tionne certainly did some good things. Bears done some good things. To me, it doesn’t really matters out there for the first snap, because we’re in a role. But tion has proven that you can be a guy by winning football for us.

Trying not to obsess over Penn State

Question: like you opened in this was a game that everybody was talking about and focused on, especially when that announcement was going to be the light out in prime time, all of it, how much in your preseason prep for the first four games was to keep the focus in the room now that you’re past it, to to keep the focus on a week to week basis, and not have your team think ahead to what everybody knew was eventually was going to be here?

Lanning: I think our guys are mature, and they’ve been able to handle that hasn’t been mentioned in our program. In my role, at times, you have to look long, big picture. You have to look down the road, not just necessarily this game, but a lot of games. But within the week, the prep for our players has been really focused. They’ve done a good job of handling that.

Growth in the cornerbacks

Question: feel like your younger corners have kind of developed. You mentioned earlier that you’re not the same team you were week one in particular, their growth from Week 1 to where you are now going to Week 5.

Lanning: Yeah, I think just experience, you know, develops confidence, and confidence is going to, you know, lead to good execution and the ability to take risks at times when it’s needed. You know, tackle, well, go, make plays on the ball, like all those things are going to develop over time. So the more snaps they get, the better they’ve gotten.